UK Study Reverses Video Games/Violence Link

A new study carried out in the UK claims that people who play violent games online may actually feel more relaxed and less angry after they have played, according to findings presented at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference in Dublin. Psychologists, led by Jane Barnett at Middlesex University, studied 292 male and female online gamers, aged between twelve and eighty-three years of age. They were asked to complete a questionnaire on anger, aggression and personality both before and after a two hour session of massively multiplayer online game World Of WarCraft. Although World Of WarCraft is most commonly noted for its addictive rather than violent nature the results of the test found that overall the test subjects were more likely to feel calm or tired after playing. Barnett commented: “There were actually higher levels of relaxation before and after playing the game as opposed to experiencing anger but this did very much depend on personality type.” “This will help us to develop am emotion and gaming questionnaire to help distinguish the type of gamer who is likely to transfer their online aggression into everyday life,” she added.